The early part of ONE Championship’s 2025 got a little healthier with the addition of three fights to ONE 171.
The early part of ONE Championship’s 2025 got a little healthier with the addition of three fights to ONE 171.
Of particular note, Croatian standout [autotag]Roberto Soldic[/autotag] (20-4) will return for the first time in nearly two years to take on [autotag]Dagi Arslanaliev[/autotag] (9-2), who will move up to welterweight from lightweight. The promotion announced the fight for the Feb. 20 event in Qatar.
In addition, ONE 171 will include a matchup between former bantamweight champions [autotag]Bibiano Fernandes[/autotag] (24-6) and [autotag]Kevin Belingon[/autotag] (20-10), who will meet for the fifth time. Fernandes has said this will the final fight of his career. He currently is 3-1 against Belingon with a split decision loss and three stoppage wins.
Plus, [autotag]Shamil Gasanov[/autotag] (14-1) will take on former two-division champ [autotag]Martin Nguyen[/autotag] (15-7) at featherweight.
Soldic came to ONE from KSW, where he was a champion, but a no contest and upset loss in his first two ONE appearances have him no doubt hungry for his first promotional win. A win for Arslanaliev could put him quickly in line for a title shot against champion Christian Lee.
Former ONE bantamweight champ Fernandes, a legendary ground fighter, will try to make it 4-1 against Belingon. They fought in 2016, 2018 and twice in 2019.
In his first fight in a year, former UFC standout John Lineker put himself in the ONE Championship title picture with a second-round TKO.
In his first fight in a year, former UFC standout [autotag]John Lineker[/autotag] put himself in the ONE Championship title picture with a second-round TKO.
Lineker (33-9) took out former ONE bantamweight champion [autotag]Kevin Belingon[/autotag] (20-8) with a blistering stoppage worthy of his “Hands of Stone” nickname. Lineker drilled Belingon with a stiff left jab, then came behind it with a right uppercut that put Belingon on the canvas against the fence.
With Belingon covering up, Lineker delivered several quick left hands that forced the referee to jump in for a TKO at the 1:16 mark of the second round. The fight was the ONE Championship 120 main event at Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore. The bout took place Oct. 30, but aired on a tape-delay basis Friday.
The win was Lineker’s second straight after moving to ONE from the UFC in 2019 after a loss to Cory Sandhagen. Lineker was in the UFC for 16 fights and went 12-4 as a flyweight and bantamweight. His career there was marked with several instances of weight misses in both divisions.
But as a featherweight with ONE, he now has the stoppage of a former champion to go with his promotional debut – a decision over Muin Gafurov in October 2019.
Belingon dropped his third straight fight. It was his first bout after three straight fights against Bibiano Fernandes. In November 2018, he beat Fernandes with a split decision to win the bantamweight title. But he lost the belt to him in March 2019 when he was disqualified for illegal elbows. When they rematched in October 2019, Fernandes submitted him to retain the belt.
Check out highlights from the main event and co-main event above.
ONE Championship 120 results included:
John Lineker def. Kevin Belingon via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 1:16
[autotag]Geje Eustaquio[/autotag] def. [autotag]Min Jong Song[/autotag] via unanimous decision
[autotag]Murad Ramazanov[/autotag] def. [autotag]Hiroyuki Tetsuka[/autotag] via unanimous decision
[autotag]Fan Rong[/autotag] def. [autotag]Yuri Samoes[/autotag] via unanimous decision
[autotag]Hiroshi Minowa[/autotag] def. [autotag]Lito Adiwang[/autotag] via split decision
ONE bantamweight champion Bibiano Fernandes discusses the prospect of being asked to face rival Kevin Belingon for the fifth time.
[autotag]Bibiano Fernandes[/autotag] has dominated ONE Championship’s bantamweight division since his arrival in the Asian promotion in 2013, and he said that he’s looking forward to defending his belt once again once the promotion gets back to hosting shows again.
ONE’s event schedule has been put on hiatus due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but the Vancouver-based Brazilian said he’s ready to take a call to compete when ONE gets back up and running again. He’s just asked that he’s given as much notice as possible.
“For being right, right, right, right weeks before the fight,” Fernandes (24-4) told MMA Junkie. “Every athlete, to make the body strong… for sure, (you need) eight weeks (to prepare). But if you really have to go, that’s a different situation. You have to think about the best way to go. But the right thing is 100% eight weeks before you go and compete, especially if you’re going to fight for the belt. You have to make sure your mind is good, make sure your body’s good, make sure you adjust to everything. But if they say, ‘OK, let’s go! You have to do it right now!’ OK, but the normal, right thing to do is seven, eight weeks. That’s perfect.”
The name that has become consistently attached to Fernandes during the latter stages of his ONE career is that of [autotag]Kevin Belingon[/autotag]. The Filipino wushu striker is the only man to have defeated Fernandes in ONE Championship, but the Brazilian avenged that loss with back-to-back wins in his last two outings. Remarkably, the pair have now faced each other four times in ONE Championship, with Fernandes winning three of them.
Following the release of ONE’s newly-introduced rankings, Belingon has once again been installed as the No. 1 contender for Fernandes’s title. But, after fighting him four times already, Fernandes says his Filipino rival needs to go and knock over a few of his fellow contenders before he will accept a fifth fight with “The Silencer.”
“OK, if you want to see Bibiano-Kevin one more time, he has to at least go and fight against two or three more fighters out there, then come back for me,” he stated. “But fight me again (next)? I don’t think so. He’ll have to go fight two or three more times, and come back. If I’m still champion, for sure… no problem.”
Another possible fight that has intrigued some fans is a matchup between Fernandes and his longtime teammate and training partner Demetrious Johnson. “Mighty Mouse” captured the ONE flyweight grand prix crown last year, and is set to challenge Fernandes’ compatriot Adriano Moraes for the ONE flyweight title later this year. A matchup between two of the most dominant champions in MMA, who are just one weight class apart, could make for a fascinating contest, but Fernandes admitted that possibility is a slim one, due to the longstanding friendship between the pair.
“For me, I prefer not to fight with my friends,” he explained. “Because your friend is your friend, and you go fight your friend and later you can change everything. I don’t think so. But it’s between ONE and DJ. I’m a very respectful guy, and I like DJ. But from my side, friendship is more important.”
After playing down the possibility of facing Belingon next, it means Fernandes may find himself facing a fresh challenge, with former Shooto bantamweight champion Shoko Sato and Dagestan’s Yusup Saadulaev in prime position to get the next title shot.
Fernandes says whoever he’s facing next, he’ll be looking to score another finish to continue his grip on ONE’s bantamweight division.
“When I’m competing inside the cage, always I want to give my best and push my best, so when I leave there I (know I) did my best, you know what I mean?” he said. “When I’m inside the cage, I want to finish the guy, or knockout. They’re the two things in my mind. I will knock out this guy, or I will try to finish this guy. That’s it. I don’t think about winning by decision. That’s my mentality. The next time I fight, I won’t change nothing, I will push myself and that’s how I do it.”
